Dow Fights for 26,000 While Another Dip Spooks Bitcoin – CCN

The US stock market is quiet at the start of February’s final trading session, with the Dow creeping higher following the opening bell. The bitcoin price, meanwhile, has recovered above $3,800 while the cryptocurrency market braces for Ethereum’s second attempt at activating its long-anticipated Constantinople hard fork.

Dow Bounces Around 26,000

The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered from pre-bell losses to creep back past the 26,000 mark. The index was last at 26,022.42, having risen 37.26 points or 0.14 percent. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq remained in the red, with the former down 0.07 percent and the latter losing 0.12 percent.

On Wednesday, the Dow closed below 26,000 for the first time since Feb. 21, dropping 72.82 points or 0.28 percent to end the day at 25,985.16. The S&P 500 edged 0.05 percent lower to close at 2,792.38, while the Nasdaq gained 0.07 percent and closed at 7,554.51.

Wall Street Yawns as Trump-Kim Summit Ends in Chaos

Wall Street mostly ignored the abrupt conclusion to US President Donald Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which ended early after negotiations reached a stalemate and neither side was willing to budge.

According to Trump, Kim demanded that the US lift economic sanctions on North Korea, something the US was unwilling to do.

“Basically, they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety and we couldn’t do that,” the president said. “They were willing to de-nuke a large portion of the areas that we wanted, but we couldn’t give up all of the sanctions for that.”

Trump Administration Sends Mixed Messages on US-China Trade War

The White House is struggling to keep its story straight on the state of the trade war. | Source: Shutterstock

More worrisome is the White House’s mixed messaging on the state of the US-China trade negotiations. When Trump formally delayed the imposition of new tariffs on Chinese imports beyond the March 1 deadline, he said that the negotiations were in “advanced stages.” The president has also said that the two countries are “very, very close” to a deal.

“Let me be clear: much still needs to be done both before an agreement is reached and, more importantly, after it is reached, if one is reached,” he said.

Lighthizer did temper that negativity by stating that the US and China are “making real progress,” but he took a hard stance on the importance of holding out for an “enforceable” deal that forces China to make real changes to its economy.

“I don’t think we should accept anything that doesn’t have structural changes and is enforceable. Absolutely not,” he said.

Mixed messaging on the trade deal has been a problem in the past. Three weeks ago, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said the US and China were “miles” apart, just one day after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested that a February deal was attainable. Such conflicting positions have introduced yet another degree of uncertainty to the US stock market, and this confusion has resulted in several volatile trading sessions.

Notably, Kudlow himself jumped back into the fray on Thursday, stating that the US and China had made “fantastic” progress during a recent round of trade talks. The former CNBC analyst also alleged that it was “untrue” to state that Trump and Lighthizer do not agree on what form a trade deal should take.

Bitcoin Recovers from Sub-$3,700 Dive

The cryptocurrency market enters the US trading session on a minor day-over-day decline.